By Margie M. Palmer

Farmer’s Fix is not your average meal-delivery service.

The concept, which was hatched by Tawei David Lin and Doug Murphy, stemmed from their joint desire to have fresh, healthy food options available for on-demand meals.

“We met playing on a beach volleyball league and we talked about our past, working office jobs,” said Murphy, who lives in La Mesa. “When you’re in an office all day and you’re busy, lunch isn’t something you have time for. I would always go for the fastest and easiest thing and I ate terrible food as a result.”

Not only does this lead to weight gain, it also contributes to the uncomfortable afternoon lull.

That, Murphy said, is why he jumped at the idea to co-found Farmer’s Fix.

“We realized there wasn’t anything out there like this so we decided we’d do it ourselves,” he said. “We make food that tastes really good and it’s really healthy and we deliver it in a way that the end user, a person like us who is squeezing in a 60-hour work week and has 12 minutes to have lunch. It’s something that you can just grab and eat without interrupting your day.”

Lin, who worked in the banking and finance industry in New York City before moving to Hillcrest, agrees the company fills an important void when it comes to meal delivery options.

“[When I was working in New York] I didn’t plan ahead, and for a while, I was working many hours and gaining weight. I’m 5-foot-8 and at one point, I was up to 180 pounds,” he said. “I trained for the New York Marathon and I lost the weight, but I realized it’s not just the exercise part. I asked myself how I could make myself eat better but it just took too much time to make something and eat it.”

When the pair met, he pitched the idea of an auto-subscription food delivery service that specialized in fresh, delicious meals.

“People are much more likely to reach for a healthier food choice if it’s always available,” he said.

Sourced locally, delivered fresh

All their ingredients are sourced locally, Murphy said, adding that all salads are made, and delivered, the same day Farmer’s Fresh gets their ingredients.

“We pick up [our produce] at 8 a.m. on Sunday and all of our customers get their deliveries between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Sunday. We definitely built it so people would get their food on Sunday so they’d be ready for the work week.”

As for who came up with the salad concepts, Lin said they worked on those together.

“We did a lot of testing and what we really focus on is delivering salads that people can’t get anywhere else. One of our customer favorites is Kalefornia Dreamin’ which blends and balances our Smoky Pomegranate salad dressing and baby kale, which you can’t order anywhere else,” he said. “We also use a lot of ingredients that you don’t see in grocery stores, which we’re particularly proud of.”

Their Pearl Couscous salad, which boasts spinach, couscous, cherry tomato, slivered almonds, red bell peppers, feta, scallion and mint is also a top seller.

Murphy said that salad is paired with their balsamic dressing, which customers rave about.

“I don’t know how people can’t get the texture we get; it coats and sticks to everything and it makes every bite delicious.

The company doesn’t currently offer an animal protein option, Lin said, but they expect to change that by the end of January due to customer demand. But even without that, customers are giving the company high marks.

“When we go and see the positive things people say about us on Yelp, or when people write us notes, we really appreciate that,” he said. “That is the fundamental feeling as to why we started this business. The most important thing to me is that we are feeding hundreds of people and making their lives easier. Our dream was to be the easiest way to eat healthy.”

For more information on Farmer’s Fix, visit myfarmersfix.com.

—Margie M. Palmer can be reached at [email protected].